STAMFORD -- Blocked since April, the crumbling West Main Street bridge, known as the Purple bridge, has a new pedestrian walkway that will provide access while the city tries to lock in a replacement for the 124-year-old span across the Mill River.

Last week, the temporary span was put in place to carry walkers from Mill Street over a damaged abutment on the western end of the bridge to the more stable center, City Engineer Louis Casolo said.

The city is negotiating with the state Department of Transportation over the scope of the project, Casolo said, adding that the process of reaching a final design, obtaining state environmental permits and obtaining rights of way will put off work on a new bridge for several years.

Last March, DOT inspectors found damage to the abutment, spurring the city to shut down the structure to walkers. The bridge, built in 1888, has been closed to vehicular traffic since 2002.

"The Engineering Bureau developed a temporary pedestrian span crossing over the failed abutment section that is now supported on a sound foundation," Casolo said. It "will be in service until the replacement project design and permitting is completed."

On Tuesday, Shontavia Moss, 20, a resident of the West Side, said that with the bridge back in commission, getting back and forth between the downtown and the West Side no longer requires a circuitous walk from Mill Street to Tresser Boulevard. Moss, who was taking her 1-year-old daughter for a walk, said residents have been using the reopened bridge.

"It's a big help getting around," Moss said. "People are happy to have it back."

While the city is slated to receive nearly $1.1 million in federal transportation funds toward a new span, Casolo said that the final plan will likely require more funding in order to build a bridge that will accommodate pedestrians as well as regular vehicle and emergency vehicle traffic.

The design is also expected to include a historic component, incorporating trusses that resemble those of the original bridge, Casolo said.

James Porter, a 75-year-old resident of West North Street, said that he is surprised that the bridge has not been repaired or replaced given its importance for foot traffic to and from the West Side. Porter said he believed that money to replace the bridge would have been found sooner if the bridge was in a more prosperous area.

"They've just put a little catwalk there so people can walk across it, but the West Side is still shut off from downtown," Porter said. "They just do not care about the West Side anymore."

Casolo said numerous attempts to overhaul or replace the bridge have been attempted over the past decade, but met with various delays.

Funding on an earlier design plan to build a bridge to carry vehicles was rejected as too costly, and a subsequent plan to build a pedestrian bridge capable of carrying emergency vehicles was also slowed by efforts to keep historical aspects of the span, he said.

"The city has been working on this a long time," Casolo said.

Staff rriter Martin B. Cassidy can be reached at 203-964-2264 or martin.cassidy@scni.com.